trivia

These questions may be an acquired taste. I quite enjoy interesting conversations. Hopefully, these questions can elicit a story from conversation partner.

• What’s the nicest thing you’ve ever done? How about recently?

• What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done? How about recently?

  • What are situations that you feel require bravery to handle?

• What’s the thing you’ve done that you’re most proud of? How about recently?

• What’s your favorite question?

• How does trust work?

• Suppose I think someone is doing something which imposes large negative externalities on other people. What should I do about that?

• What do you regret?

• Suppose you had to (or got to, depending on your perspective) make a binding commitment to do one thing for an hour per day (e.g., “go running”) — what would you commit to?

• Who are you most similar to? How are you different from them?

• What percentile do you/I fall in for “being social”? for “being happy”, for “being nice”, “conformist”, etc. Basically, the q is, pick some interesting “character” dimensions and ask where person falls. (Often elicits good stories — e.g., a “proof” that I’m “super social” or Fermi estimations. Good to discuss positive and negative aspects of the characteristic, whichever side of the mean it falls on.)

• Suppose the world was about to end, or your friend was about to die. Do you have a responsibility to try to stop this?

• What are your top priorities?

• What are your thoughts on AI.

• Tell me about your name.

• What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

• Favorite book? Favorite character?

• Do you think people (generally, or you or I) “rise to challenges” or “crumple under pressure”? / do high stakes elicit high performance?

• What’s your favorite piece of clothing? / favorite material possession?

• How are you similar and different to your parents?

• What’s something you’re worried about?

• What’s something good that you’ve done lately — by more than 2SD’s?

• What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

• For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

• What is something you’re proud of yourself for?

• What in life do you get truly excited about?

• What’s one thing you can’t live without?

• What are the chapters of your life?

• How does the way you see yourself differ from the way other people see you

  • For example, are there places where other people would make really bad predictions about your actions? your preferences?
  • Who is your best next-token predictor?

• Give me some good advice

• What’s some good advice you’ve received?

• Do you have any really good systems?

• How do you avoid freaking out about scary things?

• What is fun worth?

• What are the best emotions? The worst?

• What would you do if I gave you 20 dollars and you had to spend it today?

• What do you think are some big societal problems?

• Who are some of the best people you know, in terms of:

  • altruism
  • health
  • habits
  • giving advice
  • being nice to be around

• Is doing good likely to lead to happiness?

• What is an under-cared about large societal problem? (bonus points if I don’t currently know/care about it, but you convince me that I should).

• What is a fun tradition that you have, or want to create (with yourself, or with a friend)?

• Who looks up to you?

• What is a dream you’ve let go of?

• Are you lying to yourself about anything?

• What lesson took you the longest to unlearn?

• What is something you wouldn’t want to change about yourself?

• What question are you trying to answer most in your life right now?

• In what areas are you currently trying to improve?

• What do you value in friendships? What are the best ways they add to your life?

• What is your identity ? are there parts of identity that you’d like to excise? New identities that you want to add?